Rotary table for Dividing Head

[BentRods]

Looking through a couple threads, usually concerning gear cutting, it looks like a few of you are using a rotary table as a direct replacement for a dividing head. Are the pictures misleading or is this acceptable practice?

Thanks
Erik

 

[///]

or is this acceptable practice?

Anything is acceptable if it is safe and it gets the job done.
RT's are definitely capable of doing many of the jobs a DH can do.
Vertex even make available dividing plate sets and tailstocks for their RT's.

 

[123RWO]

I bought the Vertex plates, sector arms, etc. and they fit my Yuasa 6" rotary table without modification. I also bought a 6" 4 jaw chuck and mounted it to the table. It all works together quite well.

RWO

 

[rhankey]

"Is this acceptable practice" - I'm guessing it might be frowned upon in a production shop where efficiency matters. For our hobby shops, most of us are working with limited space and dollars, so the best tool for the job is the one we have on hand. A rotary table can do just fine as a dividing head, especially if you work out the degree progressions in advance for each desired division. Even if you have a dividing head with a full set of plates, you may still have to use the rotary table for oddball divisions.

I personally have been regularly at fault for the opposite "unacceptable practice". Despite having a rotary table, dividing head and an index head, I reach for my rotary table as a last resort, and use the dividing head for many operations that would normally be more suited to a rotary table. The reason being, my dividing head and index heads (both used Hardinge's) give far higher precision with no fuss or muss than I can get with my made in China rotary table. Before acquiring the dividing head, I made do just fine with the rotary table.

 

[goldstar31]

I have a Vertex dividing head which tilts progressively so that it turns into a dividing head.

Perhaps there is a faint but unmistakeable whiff of pedantry. I have one of these daft things called a cheap and quite nasty thing with a silly little lazer and a set of spirit levels and it is ever so nice because I think that is was a quid which is the Brit way of saying it cost a dollar and a half. I sing to it 'Shine on Harvey Moon' and it actually works. To think that I bought a Vertex thingy- me- jig and made a RT for my Myford and bought a another one to fit my mill and then made a fancier affair again to fit my Quorn and then someone gave me one to do radius malarkeys on my Clarkson- and it tilts and faces mecca or somewhere.

Methinks that some of us should stand back and ponder. I spent a weekend looking at the works of the great artists and it dawned on me that they all had a few tatty paint brushes and the great sculptors had a chisel and a battered wooden mallet apiece - and were probably half drunk most of the time- because the Roman water was full of malaria bugs.

I'll get me coat.

 

[Swifty]

I have a Vertex rotary table with division plates, the only problem that I have had is that the plates are fairly large diameter and need to hang over my mill table. A problem arose when I was cutting bevel gears, I had to set the table up on its edge at a 45deg angle, I ended up with a fair bit hanging over the table to clear the plates. Fortunately I have a mill with a ram that was able to move out to get enough reach. I suppose that I could have mounted the table on packers, but had nothing suitable.
I ended up buying a dividing head at a sale to make life a bit easier. No problem with the plates at all now.

Paul.

 

[BentRods]

Thanks for the responses guys. I was spoiled with learning on a Prototrak 2 axis so I've never had to use a rotary table before. I wasn't aware of the possibility to attach plates to the rotary table, thanks for the info.